


Sweet Pea, Apple of My Eye

by rebel_ren



Series: Drabbles Against Despair [9]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Found Family, IKEA Furniture, Magnus Bane & Ragnor Fell Friendship, Warlocks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23307016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_ren/pseuds/rebel_ren
Summary: Cat's gone into labour early, and Dot has more important things to do than put the last remaining piece of nursery furniture together. To make life a little easier, Magnus offers to help out with that last to-do list item. He drags Ragnor into the fray with him, which should even the odds. One piece of IKEA furniture vs. two warlocks not allowed to use magic. Who will win? Only time will tell.
Relationships: Catarina Loss/Dorothea "Dot" Rollins, Magnus Bane & Catarina Loss, Magnus Bane & Ragnor Fell
Series: Drabbles Against Despair [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666300
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Sweet Pea, Apple of My Eye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [A_Taupe_Fox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Taupe_Fox/gifts).



> Title from Sweet Pea by Amos Lee.
> 
> Prompt (from the lovely Taupe): "Defeating the instructions for building Ikea furniture?"

Magnus sighs and takes a deep breath. “Go through it again,” he says. “One more time.”

“I _told_ you,” Ragnor says through gritted teeth. “There isn’t. any. more. It just says to use the second from the smallest wrench to tighten the A screws before you tighten the D screws with the _actual_ smallest wrench.”

“And you’re _sure_ Elias can’t help?” Magnus asks, but he knows the answer.

“Just like the _last_ three times you asked,” Ragnor says, “Elias said that speaking Swedish is exactly _zero_ percent helpful when it comes to deciphering Ikea instructions.”

Magnus groans and sits up, leaning back against the wall. “I give up,” he says gloomily.

“We’re not allowed,” Ragnor says, looking equally despondent. He checks his watch and groans. “We only have another hour,” he informs Magnus.

Magnus lets his head fall back against the wall with a thump. “We are _so_ screwed.”

Ragnor rolls his eyes skyward. “Well, you _did_ volunteer for this, you bloody fool.”

“I mean, yeah, but…” Magnus sighs. “I didn’t think it’d be so _hard,_ ” he admitted.

“And _why_ can’t we use magic?” Ragnor asks. (Again.)

“They’re not sure of the effect on the baby,” Magnus says wearily. (Again.)

And that makes it non-negotiable. None of them would do anything to jeopardise the little one’s life or health, no matter how slim the risk.

Magnus smiles when he thinks of her, though. He hasn’t even met her yet, but he can’t think of her without his heart overflowing with love. Their little Madzie, tiny and tenacious, brand new yet so, so loved.

-

Cat and Dot had fallen for each other the moment they’d met. Magnus and Ragnor had teased Cat good-naturedly, as they’ve always done. After all, she’s the most level-headed of them all, hardly prone to dreamy, starry-eyed silences up to this point. Dot had changed all that, but in the best possible way. Cat’s softer around Dot, more open, and Dot’s more confident around Cat, more sure of herself.

One meeting, and their little family had expanded. The trio had become a quartet.

Magnus and Ragnor had been thrilled when Dot and Cat had announced that Cat was pregnant. Magnus had bought every baby outfit that he’d laid eyes on - at least until Cat and Dot had forbidden him to continue his impulse buys. After that, he’d tried to show a modicum of restraint and only get the _truly_ worthwhile baby garments. Sure, some of them the little one wouldn’t be able to wear for years, but better to be prepared, right?

Ragnor, on the other hand, had shown his joy in different ways, quietly taking up knitting and then producing a beautiful baby blanket at the baby shower, unbelievably soft and warm with a gorgeous, complex pattern. He’d also begun amassing an extensive library of children’s books, categorised by age. Not all books were considered good enough, however. Ragnor ordered, read, and discarded hundreds for various reasons, only selecting the best of the best for his collection.

Suffice to say, they’d all loved Cat and Dot’s little one for months, sight unseen.

Though the pregnancy hadn’t been easy, none of them had expected Cat to go into labour early. Fortunately, everything had gone as well as things could under such circumstances, and early yesterday morning, Madzie had entered the world, premature but healthy.

If she hadn’t decided to make her appearance, Dot would’ve been putting the last piece of baby furniture together today. Naturally, Magnus had volunteered to take that responsibility off her hands.

He had, however, underestimated how insufferably _impossible_ this would be.

-

“This is _impossible,_ ” Magnus complains.

“I wish we could use magic,” he says half-heartedly.

Magic would make this _so_ much easier, but… when dealing with a premature, half-warlock baby? No one’s entirely sure how it would affect her, so they’ve agreed not to perform magic around her until she’s up to birth weight, then gradually introduce it into her surroundings.

“...But I know we can’t,” Magnus says with a sigh.

Ragnor comes over and lowers himself to the floor beside Magnus with a sigh. “It’s really bloody hard,” he agrees, but he nudges his shoulder against Magnus’ just a little, and it helps lighten Magnus’ mood.

It also helps Magnus remember the reason they’re doing this.

Magnus smiles at Ragnor. “An hour,” he says, but his voice is softer now. “An hour til they bring her home.”

“Yes,” Ragnor says, smiling a little. “An hour to beat this bloody thing… and to make this place ready for her…”

“Okay,” Magnus says, getting up on his knees and starting to arrange the pieces on the floor in order. “Start at the beginning.”

“Got it,” Ragnor says, getting up to sort through the crumpled papers littering the floor, spreading them out and putting them in order.

It takes fifty-eight minutes and forty-nine seconds, but they manage it. Ragnor is carefully labeling the tools and putting them in the miscellaneous drawer in the kitchen, and Magnus is trying to fit the last of the cardboard into the recycle bin when they hear the garage door opening.

Cat walks in, moving slowly and gingerly but otherwise looking like herself. She chuckles when she spots them.

“You two look like well-behaved children who think they deserve a treat,” she says.

Magnus grins, unable to keep from bouncing a little on his heels. He and Ragnor may have agreed to let the mini family have some time to themselves in the hospital, but he’s _barely_ managed to stay patient enough to observe that agreement. He’s been an absolute wreck since the first phone pictures of a scrunched, bawling face, and he can’t _wait_ to meet her in person.

Dot comes in right behind Cat, holding a car carrier and turning to close the door behind her. When she turns to face them, she chuckles too. “All right, all right,” she says, putting a hand on the small of Cat’s back. “Can we take this meet-cute to the living room where we can all be a little more comfortable?”

Ragnor and Cat head for the living room, Madzie apparently fast asleep in her covered car carrier, and Magnus brings in a few items from the car under Dot’s direction.

As he heads into the living room at last, Magnus is doing his best to be calm. He is also failing completely.

When they’re all settled and Dot carefully lifts Madzie out of the carrier, Magnus can’t take his eyes off her.

“She’s so _little,_ ” he whispers.

It’s a credit to Ragnor that, despite all the baby books he’s read over the past months, he doesn’t tease Magnus or tell him the average sizes (in both inches and centimeters) for premature babies. Of course, that’s mostly because Ragnor can’t look away from Madzie’s face either.

“You can come closer,” Cat says, smiling at their awe. And they do, Ragnor sitting on one side of Cat while Dot sits on the other. Magnus kneels on the floor in front of her, and for a moment, they just look. And breathe. And feel.

“She’s beautiful, you two,” Ragnor says softly, his voice shaking just a little with emotion.

“She’s a sweet pea,” Magnus says, not trying to hide the tears welling up in his eyes. “The sweetest little pea there ever was.”

And as they look, as they feel, as they relax in the moment and the togetherness, their family grows once more, bonding in an entirely new and completely wonderful way.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to prompt me here or on twitter, if you are so inclined :)


End file.
